Some words from our friends at MLT Creative

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How can you make digital B2B Marketing Touchpoints truly sensational?

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See (and feel) SenseAtional for yourself.

We recently were awarded the opportunity to conceive and design a printed “kit” to demonstrate, explore and showcase an amazing new printing technique for one of our long-time partners, Bennett Graphics in Atlanta.

The technique is called “SenseAtional, ” and it is that and more. It consists of tactile enhancements and foils that are applied to digitally printed designs. They’re polymers that are applied in various thicknesses from super glossy to differently textured enhancements in ways you have never seen, or felt, before. Both the gold and silver foils are elegant, versatile and can achieve effects that would have been too cost restrictive in the past even to consider.

SenseAtional logo

We designed a wish book “kit” that would push this technology to the limits of its capabilities and get the creative wheels turning for Bennett’s audience of designers, marketers and communication departments. The kit has a combination of various style images and graphics along with some of my personal photography work to help illustrate the wide range of endless possibilities this technology offers. Bennett’s team are thrilled with the final piece and the many new opportunities and interest it has already delivered.

Describing it is tough, so we included a few photographs and detail images to try and give a better sense of the experience. The only true way to “get it” is to see and feel it first hand, but more about that later.

Add a SenseAtional Splash to Drip Campaigns, Sales Collateral, Digital Direct Mail, and Event Marketing materials

The big news is what this means for using print to reach your audience in new ways that will gain attention immediately. The ability to digitally enhance and personalize your design with foil accents and tactile expressions, quickly and in small quantities, is a game-changer. It tangibly demonstrates how print is not dead and can still be an integral part of any digital marketing campaign. Using print that grabs attention in this way, paired with sound marketing outreach in other areas, offers a creative method to reach and captivate an audience with your message.

SenseAtional Savannah flyer header

If you have a new service or product that needs a creative focus or custom B2B photography to tell its story, contact us for a no-obligation discussion.

If you’re interested in learning more about SenseAtional and how it could “elevate” your marketing program’s printed outreach, contact Bill Gillespie at Bennett Graphics for all of the details and samples.

 

Vanity Matters

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Scott Stratten, bestselling author of “Unmarketing” recently told a story during the United Marketing Conference in Nashville, Tenn., about metrics that really matter.  The general gist was that many of the metrics of a video he created were not only misleading, but distracting from what really mattered.

Stratten saw remarkable click rates, views and “likes.”  He was able to go even deeper into the analytics and determine that his overall “vanity” metrics were pretty high.  But he also noticed that he never received a spike in sales or inquiries from his speaking.

Vanity metrics are driven by the need to validate.  Whether it’s the CFO who wants to confirm that every dollar spent turns into something greater than a dollar, or the Millennial marketing coordinator who wants to prove a level of intelligence, validating existence plays a major role in marketing today.

This really is one of the best times to be in marketing.  Technology, tools data, information, ideas and innovation abound.  But as a result, prospects and customers are feeling a massive overload.  The vanity metrics matter less and less each day, and the world craves to connect on a deeper level.  This may mean doing things that simply do not scale, being more vulnerable and doing some real soul searching around what really matters to move the needle.

Marketing must be more than a series of e-blasts married to an automated drip campaign that most of us can smell a mile away.  Marketers need to harness all the available tools to optimize efficiency, but also be able to directly engage with people to seek an understanding and trust that traditional marketing practices don’t allow.

Due to noise within the channels, people don’t necessarily want to be marketed to anymore.  Therefore, brands are desperate to determine how to create engagement and conversations at every consumer touch point.  Buyers have all the control today.

This month’s Connect Magazine speaks to that very point in the cover story “Orchestrating Business.”  The second piece “Touchy Feely” speaks to customer intimacy and reminds us of the ownership people take when sensing things through touch.

The magazine is a must read for marketers, this month.  The current economic climate is such that people want more connection to one another and print is still a great example of developing intimacy.  Dr. David Eagleman’s work on the neuroscience of touch supports both pieces.

If you don’t receive Connect Magazine and would like to, please let us know.  You can subscribe on our website or call Bennett Graphics and ask for Connect.  It’s free and we want you on board.

 

 

Print Still Matters in the Digital Age!

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We’re pleased to share the following contribution from our friend Mark, Semmelmayer Co-President of BMA’s Atlanta Chapter. Bennett Graphics is proud to be associated with BMA and with Mark, personally.

Using the best of both is a powerful 1-2 marketing punch
A colleague in the Business Marketing Association (BMA) recently pointed me to an article that surprised a bit. Published in April 2016, titled “Why Some Publishers are Going Back to Print”, it’s available online in the Recruitment ADVisor.

So, there’s new thinking in the halls of trade publishing houses, with implications for B2B marketers. Not just in print advertising, but in all manner of printed marketing materials. Fundamentally, the post lists three reasons for this newer line of thinking (paraphrasing here):

Emphasis on editorial -A digital publication can morph into many things beyond the intended core content. This split focus can take away from communication and the perceived value of the written word.

Premium product –The best designed online publication is just a disembodied experience. By contrast, a printed material has a physical presence that lends both a tactile experience and a sense of genuine gravitas to the content.

Communications impact – Readers of online publications tend to have their attention batted around by ads, links, and other distraction. The print environment offers a deeper, more focused experience.

When it comes to digital, don’t let age fool you
In an article in the Washington Post , February 2016, Michael Rosenwald, dispelled the myth of preference for digital information by those he called “digital natives”…college students and others under the age of 25. “Textbook makers, bookstore owners and college student surveys all say millennials still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises, given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally.”

What print does that digital alone can’t
In an article, published April, 2013 in the Scientific American, Ferris Jabr states it bluntly: “Evidence from laboratory experiments, polls and consumer reports indicates that modern screens and e-readers fail to adequately recreate certain tactile experiences of reading on paper that many people miss. More importantly, they prevent people from navigating long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way.”

 
Print marketing is alive and well. So is digital. Make them work together
There are many ways to do it and here are just a couple. In a post written for Online Marketing Insights, Larry Alton, a business consultant specializing in social media, posited 3 ways to combine print and digital to a greater effect than either used alone.

1. Use digital opt-ins for direct mailings
There’s much exchange between digital media and direct mailings. Learning how to maximize these interchanges can elevate the return from both. Get people to opt-in to receive your direct mail with digital campaign, and then use the predictability of direct mail to further drive your online campaign

2. Use QR codes and personalized URLs
QR codes— along with personalized URLs specific to an ad or printed piece— can complement specific campaign goals. QR codes and personalized URLs provide actionable insights into who your customers are and where they’re engaging with your print materials.

3. Combine social media and in-store or trade show displays
In-person events are big for brick and mortars and brands with physical presence. During events, you can distribute print materials and have one-on-one conversations, but you should also look for ways to bring offline customers online. Try a touch that encourages people to follow you on Facebook or Twitter in return for the chance to win a prize.

Insight: Marketing needs to think more inclusively
An open mind about your marketing “vehicles” is of great importance. The marketing process starts with understanding what your customer needs…not what you’re selling…and then creating brand-consistent messages, delivered where, when and how the customer wants them. It’s the foundation of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). In fact, the Atlanta Chapter of BMA recently hosted a luncheon featuring Dr. Bob Lauterborn, one of the co-authors of the book,” Integrated Marketing Communications: Putting It All Together”.

If you’re hungry for new ideas, thought leadership and peer-to-peer networking, I’d encourage you to visit the BMA ATL website, http://bmaatlanta.org/, to learn more about BMA and get details on our next event, “The Search for B2B Brand Intimacy”, on April 20.

MARK SEMMELMAYER is a former Chairman of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), Co-President of BMA’s Atlanta Chapter, Recipient of the 2015 G. D Crain Award from BMA and an Inductee in the Business Marketing Hall of Fame. Mark’s a 40-year B2B marketing veteran, including 32-years with Kimberly-Clark. He is the founder and Chief Idea Officer of Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications, a consultancy in Atlanta, GA.